IRS admits to singling out conservative groups

IRS agents in Cincinnati inappropriately singled out groups like the Tea Party or Patriot party while reviewing their nonprofit qualifications. The IRS insisted they had done so to make for easier processing and not because of any political bias, but the White House said there’s no question the behavior was inappropriate. NBC’s Tom Costello reports.

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>>>supposed to be used for political purposes as a lever of government against those who may not agree with the government. but today the
irs
has apologized for singling out some conservative groups for scrutiny last year. nbc's tom costello also in our d.c. newsroom with more tonight. good evening.

>> reporter: this involves groups applying for
tax exempt status
and
social welfare
organizations. the
irs
apologized for targeting for skroot any and holding up applications from groups it thought were
politically conservative
. when the
tea party
was at its most vocal during the
2012
election cycle the
irs
now admits its agents singled out
tax exempt
applications from conservative groups scrutinizing them with
tea party
or patriot in the names. at the time the bush-appointed head of the
irs
insisted no group was being singled out.

>>there is absolutely no targeting. this is the kind of back and forth that happens when people apply for 501-c-4 status.

>> reporter: the
irs
conceded employees grouped together 75 applications but only because it made for easier processing.

>>they didn't do it because of any political bias. they did it because it was their shortcut way of describing the cases for centralization.

>> reporter: conservative commentators, however, are not buying the explanation.

>>they were targeting conservative, slash, right wing groups. harassing them. making it doubly tough for them to qualify for
tax exempt status
.

>> reporter: in ohio, the former president of the
liberty coalition
says his state group was targeted by the
irs
which demanded lists of members, donors, even family members and politicians who have spoken.

>>they were trying to identify who's in the
tea party
movement and what we know and what we are planning to do. that's pretty obvious to me.

>> reporter: to another group the
liberty townshiptea party
, the
irs
sent a seven-page letter demanding to know its relationship with a private citizen who wasn't even a member of the group.

>>what does that translate to? does it translate perhaps to an audit? does it translate to probable cause on something else?

>> reporter: today the
white house
said something went wrong at the
irs
.

>>there is no question if this took place it is inappropriate and there needs to be action taken. the president would expect it will investigated and action taken.

>> reporter: the
irs
won't say whether any
irs
employee will be disciplined, but it does say these were career employees, not political appointees. the
irs
inspector general is also conducting an investigation. brian?